Tampering and tanking talk can prove costly
If there is one message the NBA wants to make emphatically clear it’s that publicly questioning the integrity of the game is not something the head office looks kindly upon.
And it will be costly to challenge it, despite the fact people within the league know it goes on all the time.
Commissioner Adam Silver fined Dallas owner Mark Cuban $600,000 (all figures U.S.) on Wednesday for comments he made about the benefits of losing on a podcast with the legendary Julius Erving.
And that came on the heels of a $50,000 fine levied against Los Angeles Lakers president Magic Johnson for “tampering” because he paid Milwaukee’s Giannis Antetokounmpo a compliment during an ESPN interview.
Tanking and tampering: The two no-no’s even though they go on all the time privately. But they also strike at the integrity of the game and that a troublesome issue for the league and one that’s obviously dealt with harshly.
Tanking — or playing games late throughout the season with roster and lineups that team know are most likely to fail — is one of the major perception issues facing the league.
But until they do some kind of draft reform to not reward the very worst teams with the best chance to draft immediate help, it will go on.
This year will be one of the most interesting ones in recent times in that regards. When play began on Thursday after the all-star break, there were eight teams with 20 or fewer wins, all of which will be “battling” to have the worst record on the final day of the regular season and therefore the most chance at getting the No. 1 pick in June’s draft.
And while the league obviously does not want management or ownership of any of those teams openly discussing the merits of losing, it is a real issue that needs to be addressed. Cuban was not wrong when he suggested the quickest fix for the Mavericks — who are one of those eight teams chasing last place — would be to lose more often.
The league has said it is looking at some kind of draft lottery reform and has changed the odds in June to make it harder for the worst teams to keep the top picks but more work has to be done.
The Johnson fine — the second time he’d been dinged for talking about players on other teams — was a clear league-wide message.
“What we’ve said to him, and it’s a clear message to other team executives, is that stop talking about star players on other teams,” Silver said during all-star weekend. “There are plenty of other issues they can address. And there is sensitivity around it throughout the league.”
AROUND THE LEAGUE
THE KING’S SPEECH: Much was made of commissioner Adam Silver’s point on all-star weekend that the league might look at tweaking the playoff system to increase chances of the top two teams in the regular season meeting in the final. There is no easy solution and at least one prominent player wants to pump the brakes on the whole idea. “It’s cool to mess around with the all-star game, we proved you can do that, but let’s not get too crazy about the playoffs,” James told reporters in Cleveland. “In the ’80s you had the Lakers who dominated the league at one point, then you had Boston that dominated the league. In the ’90s, you had Chicago that dominated the league. San Antonio also had its run. We had our run in the East with Miami, Golden State is having their run.”
A CURIOUS CASE: San Antonio coach Gregg Popovich dropped a bit of a bomb this week when he said he would be “surprised” if Kawhi Leonard played again the season. Leonard has missed all but nine games with a right quad injury and hasn’t played since an aborted comeback ended Jan. 13. A report from ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski said Leonard has been medically cleared to play and that any return would be solely up to the player. “Well, we only have X number of games left in the season and he’s still not ready to go,” Popovich said. “If by some chance he is it’s going to be pretty late into the season and it’ll be a tough decision how late you bring somebody back. That’s why I’m trying to be honest and logical. I’ll be surprised if he gets back this year.”
CHASING HISTORY: Houston’s James Harden would seem to have a grip on the most valuable player award as the final third of the NBA season arrives. But he’s also on track to do something no Rocket has ever done. Harden went into play on Thursday night averaging 31.3 points per game — almost four a game ahead of second place Giannis Antetokounmpo — and would become the first Houston player to ever win a scoring title if it holds.
BIG NIGHT AHEAD: Those cheeky Orlando Magic officials have found a way to tweak the Raptors just a little bit. The Magic announced Thursday they will induct McGrady into the team’s hall of fame in part because, according to team CEO Alex Martins, ‘”home-grown in Central Florida, T-Mac wowed us with his talent on a nightly basis, while making compassionate contributions in the community.” The Magic have chosen a home game March 20 to honour McGrady. The opponent? The Raptors, the team he left to become a homegrown hall of famer.
FIRST OF MANY CUTS? The Charlotte Hornets let general manager Rich Cho go earlier this week, giving owner Michael Jordan a bit more time to find a replacement before the big work of the off-season begins. But it is it just the first move? Coach Steve Clifford, whose team is likely to miss the playoffs for the second straight season, would now vault to the top of the “next coach to be fired” list. It may not be anything Clifford has done or not done that causes his demise but a new Hornets broom might want to sweep everything clean.